One man’s trash is another’s treasure. Apparently that is the case with the refuse for the City of Memphis, which for the third time in less than 10 years the community’s garbage collection service has been sold.

Onyx Waste Services, Inc. announced on July 30 that the company had acquired the service areas of Memphis, Kahoka and Lancaster from Waste Corporation of America. The purchase included the containers as well as all existing customer contracts.

The Onyx trucks were on the job Tuesday in Memphis picking up trash as usual for residents on the west half of town.

“Despite the change in ownership it should remain business as usual,” said Roger Smith, director of Onyx’s Macon office. “Basically the only changes will be in the record keeping as the routes and the collection days should remain the same.”

The international company, one of the world’s 10 largest waste collection businesses, currently provides service to the north half of Missouri. Smith stated the company provides service for 75-80 municipalities from Ashland north to the Iowa line and from Kahoka in the east to Maryville in the west.

The local collection services will now be routed through Macon where Onyx maintains a landfill. The company will not maintain an office or lot in Memphis.

Onyx will assume the existing three-year contract that the City of Memphis entered into back in April 2003 with Waste Corporation of America.

Smith stated that the acquisition happened rather quickly leaving his office scrambling to enter all the new accounts on the computer system to set up record keeping and billing. He noted that the transition may take more than 30 days and asked that customers have patience with the billing process. Residential customers are billed through the City of Memphis. Only commercial accounts are billed through the company.

“Our number one priority is to get the trash picked up,” Smith said. “We will get the billing and record keeping figured out as quickly as possible but we’ll make sure your trash is collected regardless.”

Smith noted that the transition could cause some customers to unintentionally be left off route lists. Anyone that wishes to have service or has any other questions can contact the office at 1-800-778-7652.

The sale could pay immediate dividends for the region, as Smith stated the company is sending the Macon service area new trucks that are scheduled to arrive in the middle of August.